Child's Play
| running time = 87 min. | country = USA | language = English | budget = $9,000,000 IMDB; Child's Play (1988); Box office & business.Box Office Mojo; Child's Play (1988) | gross revenue = $33,244,684 | preceded by = | followed by = Child's Play 2 }} Child's Play is an American feature film of the horror genre that combines elements of supernatural thriller with the slasher subgenre. The film was directed by Tom Holland with a screenplay written by Don Mancini , John Lafia and Tom Holland, based on a story treatment by Mancini. It was produced and distributed by United Artists and premiered theatrically in the United States on November 9th, 1988. The film stars Catherine Hicks as the female lead, Karen Barclay, and Alex Vincent as her young son, Andy Barclay. Chris Sarandon takes the leading male role as Chicago detective Mike Norris and Brad Dourif plays the part of the film's antagonist, Charles Lee Ray. He also provides the voice for Ray's pint-sized alter ego, "Chucky". The premise of the film presents Charles Lee Ray as a serial killer who is gunned down by police. Before dying however, he uses a voodoo ritual to transmit his soul, which takes up residence inside of a Good Guy doll. This particular doll, "Chucky", becomes the favored toy of young Andy Barclay. The evil soul of Chucky however, wants to take complete possession of Andy - to be his "friend to the end". Plot Cast Notes & Trivia * Copyright holder: 1988, United Artists Pictures, Inc. * This is the first installment in a film series that has yielded (to date) five sequels. * Taglines for this film include, "No one believes the truth... or lives to tell it", "Something's moved in with the Barclay family, and so has terror", and "Andy Barclay has a new playmate who's in no mood to play". * Production on Child's Play began on January 7th, 1988. Principal photography concluded on March 5th, 1988. * Over its opening weekend (November 13th), Child's Play grossed $6,583,000. * At its widest release, Child's Play was screened in 1,490 movie theaters. * Child's Play was released on VHS on April 27th, 1995 by MGM Home Entertainment. It was first released to DVD on September 28th, 1999. It was re-released on October 18th, 2000. The "Chucky's Twentieth Birthday" edition was released on September 9th, 2008. It was also included as part of United Artists' 90th Anniversary Prestige Collection. * Scenes from this film were included in The 100 Scariest Movie Moments. * This is Tom Holland's third film role as a director and his second feature in the horror genre. * This is creator and screenwriter Don Mancini's second film and his second film in the horror genre. The majority of Don's work is involved in the Child's Play franchise. * This is actor Brad Dourif's twenty-first movie role and his twentieth role as a credited cast member. It is his thirteenth feature film role excluding television movies. It is his second role in the horror genre and his first role as both an actor and a voice actor. * All of Brad Dourif's voice over work for Chucky was recorded in advance so they could match up Chucky's mouth with the words. Because of this, Brad Dourif rarely ever appeared on set during the "doll" scenes. Instead, recordings of his voice would be played back for Alex Vincent to go by. IMDB; Child's Play; Trivia * This is actress Catherine Hicks's seventeenth film role. It is her tenth role in a feature film excluding television movies. It is her first work in the horror genre. * This movie marks the acting debut of Alex Vincent in the role of Andy Barclay. * This is actor Chris Sarandon's nineteenth movie role. It is his ninth role in a feature film excluding television movies and his second work in the horror genre. * The movie was nominated at the 1990 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for the category of Best Horror Film. * Catherine Hicks won the Saturn Award in 1990 for the category of Best Actress for her role on Child's Play. * Editor Edward Warschilka is the father of Paul C. Warschilka, who was the editor on John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. See also External Links * * * * Child's Play at Wikipedia * * * * * * References ---- Category:United Artists Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Category:1988 films Category:Articles Category:Films Category:1st installments Category:Killer Doll films Category:Horror Film List Category:Tom Holland Category:Brad Dourif/Films Category:Brad Dourif/Voice actor Category:Ed Gale Category:Syringe/Appearances Category:Voodoo/Appearances Category:Voodoo doll/Appearances